NASHVILLE, United States — Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike has been taken to the hospital after surviving an attempted execution in which she was administered two doses of the lethal-injection drug pentobarbital, her lawyers said.
Pike, 50, was scheduled to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years after the US Supreme Court cleared the way for the procedure on Wednesday.
Her execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville was halted after witnesses reported that Pike remained alive and was audibly snoring more than 40 minutes after the final injection. She was later taken by ambulance to an off-site medical facility.
Pike’s legal team filed an emergency motion seeking to halt the execution and provide medical care, stating that she had lost consciousness but still had a heartbeat and was breathing.
District Judge Clifton L Corker subsequently issued an order noting that medical personnel had begun providing care.
Her lawyers later said Pike was being treated at a hospital but that they had not been informed of her condition.
Lawyers Allege Problems With Execution
Pike’s attorneys accused Tennessee officials of failing to carry out a lawful execution and raised concerns about access to her veins, the condition of the pentobarbital and the availability of emergency medical care.
They also questioned the secrecy surrounding Tennessee’s execution protocol.
The Tennessee Department of Correction, however, said it stood by the procedure and maintained that officials had followed the state’s approved execution protocol.
“The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the state’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office,” spokesperson Dorinda Carter said, according to the Tennessean.
The department also said the lethal-injection chemical used in the protocol had consistently been effective and that Pike had been transported to an off-site medical facility.
Supreme Court Had Cleared Execution
The attempted execution came after a series of last-minute legal challenges.
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit had temporarily halted the execution earlier Wednesday, saying it needed more time to consider Pike’s arguments.
The US Supreme Court later overturned that stay, allowing Tennessee to proceed. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
The Supreme Court had also rejected an earlier appeal by Pike’s lawyers, who argued that the jury that sentenced her to death did not adequately consider mitigating evidence concerning her history of childhood sexual abuse.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee had separately rejected Pike’s request for clemency.
Pike Was 18 When Slemmer Was Killed
Prosecutors said Pike and Shipp attacked and killed Slemmer in Knoxville after Pike became convinced that Slemmer was interested in her boyfriend.
Pike has acknowledged responsibility for Slemmer’s death. In her clemency petition, she said she had intended to beat Slemmer rather than kill her and expressed remorse for the impact of the crime.
Her lawyers have pointed to her age at the time of the crime, documented mental-health issues and a history of childhood abuse in challenging the death sentence.
Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, had supported the execution and said she had waited decades to see Pike’s sentence carried out.
Tennessee Halts Further Executions
The failed execution has prompted further scrutiny of Tennessee’s lethal-injection procedures.
According to The Associated Press, Governor Bill Lee subsequently halted the state’s remaining executions for the year and ordered an independent investigation into what happened during Pike’s execution attempt.
Pike’s condition following her transfer to hospital has not been publicly disclosed.
